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Hitching a ride: readers' feedback

This week's winner

A hitchhiker's guide to paella on the beach

Anthony Peregrine’s reflections on hitchhiking (Le Rosbif, July 12) revived happy memories of new experiences and the kindness of strangers.

Years ago, having helped sail a yacht from Glasgow to Gibraltar, another crewman and I, both penniless, set out for home using our thumbs. In the scorching July heat, we inched up the Spanish coast, typically by frustrating, short lifts of only a few miles, and often standing ignored and hungry for hours outside the dusty, rundown villages.

One morning a battered open 2CV drew up and a young Englishman took us aboard. Wearing jeans and a pink shirt, he drove with bare feet. Sensing our exhaustion, he turned off for a beach restaurant, where long wooden tables stood shaded beneath a grass awning. “We’ll have paella,” he said. I had never heard of paella, or garlic for that matter, but it was 1965, I was only 18 and from Essex. Before long, a huge metal dish appeared, heaped with the most glorious, fragrant food I had ever tasted. We gulped it down gratefully, with plenty of vino tinto. Afterwards, we pushed back, content, toes burrowing into the sand. Why hurry home?

More feedback from readers

We are just back from the area. We stayed outside Pinhão, but did spend a couple of hours on the river, which gave us a different appreciation of the area.

By far our best experience was on a minibus trip up through the beautiful Quinta das Carvalhas. Real Companhia Velha operates the trip (from the quay in Pinhão) up to Casa Redonda. At 1,800ft, this gives a 360-degree, panoramic view of the patchwork of vineyards.

Upon our return to town, we asked to be dropped off at the railway station, to look at the wonderful azulejos (decorated tiles) that adorn its walls. Inside, we were surprised to find a wine shop, staffed by well-informed young men and women. It would have been rude not to taste something, so we chose a 2011 vintage ruby. We sat in the sun, sipping while a young lady educated us about port wine. Priceless!

Bob Moore

Unwelcome neighbour

We have just returned from a river cruise on the Danube, travelling between Budapest and Bucharest. Everything that Douglas Ward says is correct, but there are some negatives too.

To say another ship may be moored alongside understates the impact of this. It doesn’t just happen from time to time but rather too often. To have to keep your curtains shut because someone is in a cabin looking at you from 6ft away is hardly desirable, especially if one has bought and paid handsomely for a room with a balcony.

Alex Jarrett

University digs

Stephen McClarence’s feature on staying in university accommodation (“Wake up in a seat of learning”, July 5) brought back fond memories of great family holidays we had when the children were younger. Even today, they refer to them as the best holidays ever.

During our summer holidays the four of us stayed at Newcastle, York, Lancaster and Aberystwyth – all universities that provided a wing within a block or house giving secure accommodation. All had individual bedrooms with a well-equipped kitchen and linen. We took advantage of the many on-site sporting facilities and enjoyed tennis, swimming, badminton and the gym, to name a few. Excellent value for money and a taster for any potential students.

We stayed in a mix of “rural retreats” and hotels, and generally preferred the former because of their more laid-back individual feel. After some serious temple visiting, it was bliss to chill out at Masseria Susafa, to relax by the pool looking out over the hummocky post-harvest fields to the mountains beyond and looking forward to enjoying some great food in the evenings.

For such places, a car is essential as many are very tucked away. In addition to those mentioned by Lee Marshall, we found another lovely place in the hills above Palermo called Baglio di Pianetto.

Norman Thorp

Photo opportunities

Ironically, Timothy Allen (“Life through my lens”, July 5), winner of the National Geographical Society’s Cutty Sark award this year, was not able to travel to London to collect his prize. Instead, he was to be in the remote Mongolian Altai Mountains.

Your article about Allen inspired me to look at the websites mentioned. His photographs take us to places at “the end of the earth”, places that most of us will never have the opportunity, or perhaps the inclination, to visit. Allen’s images capture a sense of place, but they also tell us stories about what it’s like to live in these societies at the back of beyond.

The article has encouraged me as someone who enjoys taking photographs on holiday. However, the best bit for me was Allen’s comment about photographing locally. This was with regard to his portfolio of the woman who lives in Welsh woodland.

So, the pressure is off: I don’t have to worry about getting to the more far-flung corners of the world. I’m encouraged now to look around me for interesting pictures and stories in my own backyard.

Patricia Ann Ruddle

Win Wizzair flights to Bucharest

Telegraph Travel readers have the chance to win a pair of return flights to Bucharest on the low-cost airline Wizz Air. Wizz Air offers 21 flights a week to Bucharest from London Luton and two a week from Doncaster/Sheffield, with fares from £16.99 (one way, including taxes, non-optional charges and one small cabin bag).

The Romanian capital is home to one of Europe’s truly extraordinary sights – the vast Palace of the Parliament – the lovely Cismigiu Gardens and an outdoor coffee culture that has echoes of the time when this city was known as the “Paris of the Balkans”

For more information about Wizz Air’s routes or to book, visit wizzair.com or call 0907 292 0102.

How to enter

Please email relevant feedback (no more than 200 words) and contact details by midnight on July 22 to travelviews@telegraph.co.uk, or write to Travel Views, Travel Desk, The Daily Telegraph, 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0DT. Visit telegraph.co.uk/yourtravels for terms and conditions.